However, almost 15 years later, Dror is an established and respected writer.

His latest crime thriller, The Missing File tells the story of a 16-year-old boy who vanishes from a Tel Aviv suburb.

His mother is worried, but Inspector Avraham Avraham is not, as it is unheard of for children to vanish in the city.

The novel is the first in a series featuring Avraham Avraham.

"My dream for a long time was to create my own detective series," former Haaretz journalist Dror said.

"I found it hard to go back to journalism as there is need to be truthful at all times and that would be difficult.

"It is liberating that I can write a phrase and it doesn't have to be true nor false. I don't want to prove anything or persuade anyone - I just want to tell a story."

Born in Holon - where The Missing File takes place - Dror's paternal grandparents were from Syria and Lebanon, while his mother was born into an Ashkenazi family in Sofia, Bulgaria.

He wrote short stories from his early teenage years and went to the French capital in a bid to become a best-selling author.

Dor - who writes as DA Mishani - recalled: "It was a disaster and I never finished it. I was too young and I didn't know a lot about writing."

He returned to Israel and took an MA in Hebrew literature from Ben-Gurion University, in Beersheba, where he later taught.

Dror taught the history of detective fiction and creative writing at Tel Aviv University.

He moved on to Israeli national newspaper Haaretz, where he worked on its newsdesk covering foreign affairs and spent three years as editor of its literary supplement.

However, five years ago he left to become editor of Israeli and international fiction at Keter Boos, one of Israel's biggest publishers.

There is a rich literary tradition in Israel.

Dror explained: "Writing played an important role in the creation of Zionism and Israeli society.

"The national Jewish idea was born out of modern Hebrew literature. The first utopia of a Jewish state was in a literary work written by Theodor Herzl.

"Brenner and Bialik were writers and they were at the forefront of the Zionist movement - it is linked in a strong way.

"Hebrew literature is an amalgamation of many traditions, including old Jewish traditions such as the Talmudic texts and also modernist European traditions.

"The mainstream literary tradition is still comprised of many Ashkenazim and Ashkenazi subjects such as the Holocaust."

Dror has always been fascinated with detective novels.

"As a child, it was the only thing I wanted to write about," he recalled.

"The detective genre and modern Hebrew literature rarely met - there are so few Hebrew detective stories.

"What I love about the detective genre is the framework within you can put things.

"I want to attract the reader and then go deeper and explore their families, their loneliness and their loves."

The Missing File has been nominated for a Sapir award, Israel's equivalent of the Man Booker prize.

Dror lives in Tel Aviv, having recently moved back there from the UK with Polish-born wife Marta and children, four-year-old Binyomin and Sara, three.

He taught Hebrew literature at Cambridge and lived in the village of Impington, Cambridgeshire.

Dror added: "I found the long winters in England difficult, although staying in for most of the winter was good for my writing.

"We have small two children and want to raise them in Israel."

The Missing File will be published by Quercus on Thursday, priced £16.99.